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United States Patent | 5,285,212 |
McNiece | February 8, 1994 |
A columnar antenna array. A printed circuit board has on one side thereof a plurality of etched dipoles arranged in a linear array. On an opposite side of the circuit board is an excitation network for exciting each of the dipoles. The excitation network terminates in a connector to receive a radio frequency signal. The circuit board includes a plurality of openings in the spaces between the dipoles. An injection molding process encapsulates the circuit board in an encapsulation compound. A supporting surface perpendicular to the printed circuit board extending through the openings is formed during the injection molding process. Integral mounting supports are formed in the encapsulation material at each end of the circuit board for facilitating mounting of the columnar array to a frame.
Inventors: | McNiece; Robert K. (Centreville, VA) |
Assignee: | Radiation Systems, Inc. (Sterling, VA) |
Appl. No.: | 946071 |
Filed: | September 18, 1992 |
Current U.S. Class: | 343/795; 343/873; 343/893 |
Intern'l Class: | H01Q 009/28 |
Field of Search: | 343/795,797,700 MS,872,878,879,826,893 |
3747114 | Jul., 1973 | Shyhalla | 343/795. |
3836977 | Sep., 1974 | Wheeler | 343/815. |
4083050 | Apr., 1978 | Hall | 343/729. |
4436569 | Mar., 1984 | Somerfleck | 152/217. |
4633262 | Dec., 1986 | Traut | 343/700. |
4758843 | Jul., 1988 | Agrawal et al. | 343/814. |
4851855 | Jul., 1989 | Tsukamoto et al. | 343/873. |
4914449 | Apr., 1990 | Fukuzawa et al. | 343/872. |
4980696 | Dec., 1990 | Stone et al. | 343/872. |